First Trailer for Aaron Sorkin’s New HBO Drama THE NEWSROOM, Starring Jeff Daniels and Sam Waterston

Right about now, HBO subscribers are probably in a high over the debut of the second season of Game of Thrones or the impending summer return of season five of True Blood. But there is a new series on the premium network you should keep an eye on. It seems that Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing) has a lot of venting to do and he gets everything off his chest in this brilliant first trailer for the new HBO drama, The Newsroom. Starring Jeff Daniels, Sam Waterston and Emily Mortimer, The Newsroom keeps a familiar politico-centric feel to Sorkin’s The West Wing but now features a newsroom setting replacing the White House. In this first trailer, nationally recognized news anchor Will McAvoy (Daniels) loses his objectivity (and possibly his audience) when responding to a question from the crowd at a college panel. Daniels immediately won me over by saying everything a rational and informed human being should say in spite of the political backlash it was bound to incur. Hit the jump to check it out.

Newsroom is the third series in Aaron Sorkin’s Behind the Scenes trilogy, following Sports Night and Studio 60. The one-hour drama is set at a 24-hour cable news network. The story revolves around an anchor (Daniels), his new executive producer ( Mortimer), his newsroom staff (Alison Pill, John Gallagher, Jr., Olivia Munn, Dev Patel, Thomas Sadoski) and their boss (Waterston).

Jane Fonda will also recur as Leona Lansing, the CEO of the network’s parent company: “She’s a titan and her corporate concerns often conflict with the reporting of the news outlet she owns.” TV Line likens the character to Ted Turner, the CNN founder whom Fonda was married to from 1991-2001. The character’s name is a tribute to two powerful women: the late Leona Helmsley and Sherry Lansing, the first female studio head. Here’s the first trailer for the HBO drama, The Newsroom: